The McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Act legislation ensures that children and youth experiencing homelessness have full and equal access to appropriate public education and that they experience success in school.
The McKinney-Vento Act defines "homeless children and youth" (school age and younger) as: children and youth who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence, including children and youth who are:
Sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of
housing, economic hardship, or similar reason.
Living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, cars public spaces, abandoned houses, substandard housing, camping grounds or similar settings due to the lack of alternative adequate accommodations.
Living in emergency or transitional shelters; abandoned
in hospitals; or awaiting foster care placement, unaccompanied youth.
Migratory children who qualify as homeless because they are living in substandard housing.